Uploaded March 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Aarhus Symphony Orchestra conducted by Owain Arwel Hughes.
I - Allegro con forza (đť…ź = c. 132) - Meno mosso (đť…ź = c. 100) - Allegretto con moto (đť…ź. = c. 100) - A tempo (đť…ź = c. 132) - Meno mosso (đť…ź = c. 100) - A tempo (đť…ź = c. 132): 0:00
II - Andante sereno (đť…ź = c. 92): 8:37
III - Adagio (đť… = c. 70) - Allegro con brio (đť…ź = c. 132) - L'istesso tempo, ma leggiero - Espansivo (L'istesso tempo) - Poco largamente: 14:30
Holmboe's Symphony No.12 was composed in 1988, being commissioned by the British Broadcasting Corporation on the occasion of the composer's 80th birthday. It was premiered in Cardiff on October 21 of 1989, performed by the BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra conducted by Richard Armstrong. The first Danish performance followed just before the birthday itself, on December 14 of that year and played by the Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra under Leif Segerstam. Structured in three compact movements, the work shows the composer's prolific use of the Metamorphosis technique in a more concentrated form.
Holmboe's Metamorphosis is an original structural principle in which the material is continually being transformed from one state to another, gradually reaching a "total change", without losing its identity or its fundamental characteristics. The correspondence with nature's continuous transformation of matter is striking, and the material which Holmboe introduces into the process of change is most usually a musical "embryo", a thematic, motivic or rhythmical idea. Throughout a lifelong development he unwaveringly kept to a modal-diatonic basis (twelve tone music and serialism appealed little to him) but the principle has striking similarities with the constructive principles employed by Schoenberg and his pupils.
The first movement is rather free in structure, its outline resembling sonata form. It begins with a powerful four-note motive on strings (G, F#, C, G) which, with its inbuilt interval of a tritone, is the core element of the whole symphony. In the allegro it serves as the basis of a vigorous and determined main theme. A metamorphosic variation of said motive serves as a contrasting and melodic second theme first introduced by bassoon, lyrically unfolding in a delicate woodwind counterpoint. A solemn climax is reached, followed by an agitated development of the material under the metamorphosis technique. Follows an inverted kind of recapitulation, before the development continues and the allegro ends with three forceful tutti chords.
The second movement is written in form of an arch. It opens with gentle timpani beats and strings pizzicati, before a variation of the opening four-note motive appears on woodwinds. It unfolds in a lyrical counterpoint between woodwinds and strings, the material being metamorphosed in the process. The music rises in a broad and expressive central climax, before a diminuendo leads to a return to the opening melodic gentleness. The andante then ends with a dialogue between harp and woodwinds.
The third movement is formally very similar as the first. It begins with a slow and contemplative introduction, with a new variant of the four-note motive being introduced. The allegro con brio unleashes with a rhythmic and vitalist theme, derived from the introduction material. A more melodic and lyrical variation of the theme offers contrast, before the ensuing development transforms the material through the metamorphosis technique. Then an inverted recapitulation takes place (with the second theme before the main one), before the symphony ends with an imposing and life-affirming coda.
Picture: "Summer Night in northern Norway" (1930) by Norwegian painter Axel Revold.
Musical analysis partially written by myself. Source: tinyurl.com/2apebbhr
To check the score: tinyurl.com/2asmkkkr
Aarhus Symphony Orchestra conducted by Owain Arwel Hughes.
I - Allegro con forza (đť…ź = c. 132) - Meno mosso (đť…ź = c. 100) - Allegretto con moto (đť…ź. = c. 100) - A tempo (đť…ź = c. 132) - Meno mosso (đť…ź = c. 100) - A tempo (đť…ź = c. 132): 0:00
II - Andante sereno (đť…ź = c. 92): 8:37
III - Adagio (đť… = c. 70) - Allegro con brio (đť…ź = c. 132) - L'istesso tempo, ma leggiero - Espansivo (L'istesso tempo) - Poco largamente: 14:30
Holmboe's Symphony No.12 was composed in 1988, being commissioned by the British Broadcasting Corporation on the occasion of the composer's 80th birthday. It was premiered in Cardiff on October 21 of 1989, performed by the BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra conducted by Richard Armstrong. The first Danish performance followed just before the birthday itself, on December 14 of that year and played by the Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra under Leif Segerstam. Structured in three compact movements, the work shows the composer's prolific use of the Metamorphosis technique in a more concentrated form.
Holmboe's Metamorphosis is an original structural principle in which the material is continually being transformed from one state to another, gradually reaching a "total change", without losing its identity or its fundamental characteristics. The correspondence with nature's continuous transformation of matter is striking, and the material which Holmboe introduces into the process of change is most usually a musical "embryo", a thematic, motivic or rhythmical idea. Throughout a lifelong development he unwaveringly kept to a modal-diatonic basis (twelve tone music and serialism appealed little to him) but the principle has striking similarities with the constructive principles employed by Schoenberg and his pupils.
The first movement is rather free in structure, its outline resembling sonata form. It begins with a powerful four-note motive on strings (G, F#, C, G) which, with its inbuilt interval of a tritone, is the core element of the whole symphony. In the allegro it serves as the basis of a vigorous and determined main theme. A metamorphosic variation of said motive serves as a contrasting and melodic second theme first introduced by bassoon, lyrically unfolding in a delicate woodwind counterpoint. A solemn climax is reached, followed by an agitated development of the material under the metamorphosis technique. Follows an inverted kind of recapitulation, before the development continues and the allegro ends with three forceful tutti chords.
The second movement is written in form of an arch. It opens with gentle timpani beats and strings pizzicati, before a variation of the opening four-note motive appears on woodwinds. It unfolds in a lyrical counterpoint between woodwinds and strings, the material being metamorphosed in the process. The music rises in a broad and expressive central climax, before a diminuendo leads to a return to the opening melodic gentleness. The andante then ends with a dialogue between harp and woodwinds.
The third movement is formally very similar as the first. It begins with a slow and contemplative introduction, with a new variant of the four-note motive being introduced. The allegro con brio unleashes with a rhythmic and vitalist theme, derived from the introduction material. A more melodic and lyrical variation of the theme offers contrast, before the ensuing development transforms the material through the metamorphosis technique. Then an inverted recapitulation takes place (with the second theme before the main one), before the symphony ends with an imposing and life-affirming coda.
Picture: "Summer Night in northern Norway" (1930) by Norwegian painter Axel Revold.
Musical analysis partially written by myself. Source: tinyurl.com/2apebbhr
To check the score: tinyurl.com/2asmkkkr
